Why The New SDL Translate is The Best Translation App Around

With several web releases in 2014, we wanted to do something special for our iPhone/iPad iOS app. So we built a chat service from scratch. Of course, there are a few more tidbits to that, so read on to find out exactly what’s new in SDL Translate 2.0 and how you can use the app to translate just about anything (anywhere).

Of all the changes to SDL Translate, the new Conversations feature stands out. You can now talk to your family and friends in their own language. Once you’ve created a free account, you can send invites to any email address. When your friend accepts the invite you’ll be able to chat in two different languages in real-time. Imagine that instead of chatting on What’s App or Facebook only to copy/paste messages into SDL Translate and back, all you need to do is type your message in your language and your friend will receive it in their language. While this feature is already available on freetranslation.com, we’re sure the mobile experience adds a whole new level of convenience to multilingual communication. It does everything you expect from a chat service – you can even turn off translations and try speaking the same language.

The Menu

The updated menu is almost entirely new as part of the effort to simplify the user experience and to make navigation more straightforward. You can quickly access any app section through here.

My Account

You’ll notice the addition of the ‘My Account’ menu item. This is where you can sign to create an SDL Language Cloud account. It’s free, it gives you access to some of the app’s key features (including the much-demanded speech tempo control), and you can also track your chat usage here.

Translations

The ‘Translations’ area is where you’ll likely spend most of your time when using the app. You can translate simple text, sentences, or speak and listen to translations. Just like before. So what’s new here? Let’s start with the addition of the ‘Favourites’ feature. You can now store any translation simply by tapping the translation and then tapping on ‘Save to Favorites’.

The new translations screen action menu (represented by three dots ‘…’ at bottom-left ) is also the place where you can access your favourites (highlighted by a gold star). When you open the menu you’ll also notice that you can now translate your Dropbox documents directly from this screen. In order to use this feature you will have to sign up for an SDL Account and you will also need a valid Dropbox account.

Phrases

Another name-change here. You’ll remember the Language Guides in the previous versions included three basic introductory guides in French, Spanish, and German. We’ve now expanded this sections with a bonus pack for Idioms. Idioms are figures of speech (though figures of speech are not always idioms) that are commonly used in every language on earth. Machine Translation doesn’t always do a good job translating phrases like, “back to the drawing board” so we added a pack of 65 common idioms professionally translated from English to Spanish, French, and German. Each idiom contains the equivalent version of the expression in the selected language, the literal translation, and the ability to hear it spoken out loud. At $0.99 per pack, it’s a great solution if you’re traveling, learning a new language, or just curious. Of course, the basic introductory phrases have remained free to use and to listen to.

Support

As before, you can access this section to read all about what’s new, check out the ideas and comments forums, or to write us a note. We’re always listening.

With the launch of SDL Translate version 2, we’re looking forward to improving these features to make sure that anytime you need something translated, your SDL Translate app delivers an unparalleled experience. If you didn’t already click the link up top, what are you waiting for, get SDL Translate via the App Store.